Minority-voter Turnout In Central Florida May Be A Record

Voter data from Orange and Osceola counties indicate that minority turnout -- particularly among Hispanics -- may have set an Election Day record throughout Central Florida.

Hispanic participation in the presidential election in Orange surged 69 percent over 1996, voter reports show. Black voter turnout was up 33 percent, and among non-Hispanic whites it rose 8 percent, according to Orange County election officials.

In Osceola, the number of Hispanic voters rose 63 percent; blacks, 54 percent; and non-Hispanic whites, 9 percent, according to county data.

"The number [of minorities] has gone up in registration and also in percentage of voters," said June Condron, deputy supervisor of elections in Orange.

Although results in Seminole, Lake and Volusia won't be available for another week or two, results in Osceola correlated closely with Orange. This suggests that other Central Florida counties may report similar increases.

A north-south corridor between Orange and Osceola counties contains the area's highest concentration of Hispanics. Orange also is a bellwether county for Hispanic and black population trends in Central Florida.

Some experts did not expect such high increases because there was low turnout among all groups for the primaries.

"It does surprise me. I was wondering where we were," said Anthony Suarez, whose group Latino Leadership 2000 helped register Hispanic voters.

The Orange and Osceola data are in keeping with voter exit polls that showed an unprecedented number of minority voters went to the polls in Florida on Election Day, resulting in the state's tightest presidential election results.

The numbers also reflect voter-registration efforts by groups such as Latino Leadership and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The numbers also are an indication of overall population growth in Central Florida, with Hispanics among the fastest-growing groups.

A test of voter strength is seen in what percentage of registered voters actually went to the polls. Historically, minority voters don't come out to vote in the same proportion as non-Hispanic whites.

Orange and Osceola tallies show that minority voting -- at least in the 2000 election -- approximated that of whites.

About 63 percent of registered Hispanic voters cast ballots in both counties, a record high. The figure for blacks was 57 percent in Orange and nearly 72 percent in Osceola.

That compares with about 71 percent of registered non-Hispanic white voters who lined up at the polls in Orange, and 70 percent who did so in Osceola.

"If you don't come out, you're not a devoted voter, not a hard-core voter," Suarez said.

Non-Hispanic whites remain the single-largest voter group, accounting for 72 percent of all voters in Osceola and Orange. However, those percentages are down from 1996, when non-Hispanic whites made up nearly 81 percent of voters in each county.

The lower percentages are evidence that more minorities voted, making the voter pie more proportional to actual population numbers, Condron said.